


a christmas miracle

by shadedumbrella



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Elves, Flying reindeers, Found Family, Gen, Gifts, Heartwarming, Home, Magic, No Romance, also the elves have good fashion taste, dino centric, they are elves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:36:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28313190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadedumbrella/pseuds/shadedumbrella
Summary: A flying reindeer.Joshua lifted an eyebrow and jumped off the reindeer, “What was he doing? Trying to be an icicle?”A flying reindeer.“Seemed so,” Jeonghan answered, “But I think he hit his head or something.”A flying reindeer.“Chan?” Joshua called him, “You look pale, do you need a ride back?”A flying reindeer.A flying reindeer.A flying rein-“Chan? Are you al- H-HE FAINTED!”orWhen a slip on a frozen puddle brought Dino to another world- where magic, elves, and flying reindeers exist, maybe he finally realized what a christmas miracle truly is.
Relationships: Lee Chan | Dino & Everyone, Seventeen OT13 - Relationship
Comments: 4
Kudos: 66





	a christmas miracle

**Author's Note:**

> A special christmas gift from me!! It's full fluff and family, I hope you'll enjoy it! <3

_14.05_

_Seungcheol: Don’t forget to return at 6, we’ll have a christmas team dinner on the 8th floor._

_14.05_

_Seokmin: Okay!! We’ll decorate the room!!_

_14.05_

_Seungkwan: Should we bring something??_

_14.06_

_Jeonghan: No need, cheol’s paying for everything <3 _

_14.06_

_Seungcheol: I never said that_

_14.07_

_Joshua: Okay cheol, buy us beef, thanks._

_14.08_

_Woozi: Cheol hyung’s paying? Great, bring some soju too._

_14.08_

_Hoshi: SIX PORTIONS OF BEEF!! KOREAN BEEF!!_

_14.09_

_Seungcheol: I NEVER SAID ANYTHING!!!_

_14.10_

_Jeonghan: Our leader is so nice, isn’t he? <33 _

_14.10_

_read by 10_

Dino sighed and put his phone back to the small table in the corner of the practice room.

It’s not like he despises christmas, he used to like it a lot, really!

But it’s just.. he just doesn’t feel like ‘celebrating’ it this year. 

Besides the snow and some decorations on the streets, he really doesn't feel anything like christmas. Maybe it’s the quarantine blues, or maybe he had been so busy with the team’s schedule that he doesn’t really feel the holiday vibes anymore.

To be honest, he didn’t even remember that today is Christmas Eve until his leader reminded them about team dinner later.

The most wonderful time of the year? Everytime he looks around, there’s only bad news, bad news, bad news. No happiness, no christmas joy, no parties for hosting, no marshmallows for toasting, or caroling out in the snow. No funny stories, and no tales of the glories of

Christmases long, long ago.

Just… it’s doesn’t feel like christmas.

He grabbed his water bottle and opened it, only realizing it to be empty. What’s more amazing is, the water refill machine seemed to take a holiday break too, it wouldn’t work.

 _So much for a christmas miracle,_ he thought.

Sighing for the second time, he put the bottle back and grabbed his wallet to go to the nearest convenience store.

The moment he stepped outside, he regretted every and each of his decisions.

Wearing only his mask, a purple hoodie, sweatpants, and a simple beanie does absolutely nothing to block the cold air.

He looked down and realized that he’s also only wearing a pair of slippers, without socks.

Cursing under his breath, he decided to just run quickly to the convenience store and maybe buy some hot pack on the way back.

Which was, of course, a bad idea.

Not even ten steps ahead, he managed to step on a frozen puddle, making him slip and fall face first towards the snow.

Groaning, he heard a few scurried steps and worried voices. But no matter how hard he tried to get up, his head just felt heavier and heavier. The voices seemed to go further and further away, until he felt himself shut his eyes close.

The last thing he remembered was, a soft sound of bells ringing.

He felt stuffed.

Like his body was trapped by something mushy- but solid, making him unable to move his whole body, not even his fingers. What’s worse, he can’t even open his eyes.

The second thing he felt was that he’s freezing- he feels cold, colder than he had ever been, but he couldn’t feel himself shivering.

“Hoi! There’s someone in here!” he heard a familiar voice shout, and suddenly, he’s being pulled up.

Sucking a deep breath, he started coughing as he felt a hand tapping his back.

“Wha- Chan? What were you doing under the snow? Are you trying to be an icicle?” the voice said, still tapping his back.

Panting, he opened his eyes and flinched at the sudden sunlight.

“I mean, I’m totally fine with it, it’s the trend here these days, but I don’t think your chief would be very happy to have an icicle in the sorting team- imagine all those papers being wet if you sweat!”

He scrunched his eyebrows- he doesn’t understand anything that this familiar voice said to him.

Blinking the last sunlight away, his eyes finally adjusted and he quickly realized that the face that’s in front of him was-

“Jeonghan hyung?”

The latter sighed and ruffled his hair roughly, making snow fly everywhere.

“At least if you want to try it, don’t do it when we’re having flying training, those reindeers would step on you and make you a flattened carpet in no time!”

Dino’s gaze went from the latter’s face- to the latter’s clothes.

“What- what are you wearing?” he asked.

The older was wearing a weird piece of outfit- it looks like something a soldier in those children movies would wear- something like a nutcracker would wear, a sword hung on his waist.

Jeonghan looked at him with a puzzled face, “What? I’ve been wearing this my whole life- are you okay? Did you hit your head?”

“Huh?” Dino exclaimed back, just as confused.

Suddenly, he felt a huge rush of wind pass him, and before he knew it, something passed from above him, landing right in front of him.

A flying reindeer.

“Oh, shua, you’re here,” Jeonghan said to the person riding it, wearing the exact same outfit as he does, “Come, I think there’s something wrong with this boy.”

A flying reindeer.

Joshua lifted an eyebrow and jumped off the reindeer, “What was he doing? Trying to be an icicle?”

A flying reindeer.

“Seemed so,” Jeonghan answered, “But I think he hit his head or something.”

A flying reindeer.

“Chan?” Joshua called him, “You look pale, do you need a ride back?”

A flying reindeer.

A flying reindeer.

A flying rein-

“Chan? Are you al- H-HE FAINTED!”

When he woke up for the second time, another face was in front of him.

“Oh great, you woke up!” the latter said.

Holding his throbbing head, he sat up and took a good look at the person in front of him.

“D-Dokyeom hyung?”

“Huh, the hyungs were right, you must’ve hit your head, you never called me with my elf name before,” the older gave a concerned look, “Wait here, I’ll bring you something to warm up.”

As Seokmin left the room, Chan finally realized where he was.

Wait no- actually he had no idea where he was.

The walls were made of wood, and he was sitting on a small bed in the corner of the room. Looking down, he realized that the bed rest was- a candy cane? He looked to the side and realized that his pillow was- a marshmallow?!

Okay, deep breaths, deep breaths.

There must be something that can tell him where he was.

Looking around the room, he saw a clock on the wall- made of gingerbread..? The arrows- which seemed like sugar crystals- pointed at 10- no, nevermind, the arrows are just going around and around without stopping anywhere.

Okay, so he doesn’t know the time.

He closed his eyes and tried to change his focus. 

The room smelled like.. cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, orange, ground coffee beans, honey, cold fresh air, chocolate…

It smells like christmas.

Suddenly, the door- which was made of chocolate- opened, and Seokmin walked in with a steaming cup in his hand.

“Here,” he smiled, giving the cup, “drink it to warm up.”

“W-What’s this?” Chan received the cup and looked at the content.

“Just some Glühwein*, Shua hyung keeps some in his desk and tells me to give some when you wake up.”

(*Glühwein: or mulled wine, is a traditional hot drink made with red wine and various spices, including citrus, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and vanilla. It can be served both alcoholic or non-alcoholic.)

Dino had no idea what it was, but he drank it anyway.

The first thing that he felt was- warmness. As soon as the liquid hit his throat, it was as if his whole body suddenly lit up, the coldness leaving him.

It tastes a bit spicy, sweet, nutty, like wine- but also not like a wine- but most of all, it tastes like comfort.

It tastes like sitting in front of a fireplace, a cup of steaming hot chocolate on your hands, wearing your most comfortable worn-down sweater, a huge blanket around you and some slow music mindlessly playing in the background.

It tastes like christmas.

“Are you feeling alright? The hyungs told me you were trying to be an icicle.” Seokmin asked after he took another gulp.

“Why aren’t you wearing the same outfit as Jeonghan hyung?” Dino asked instead, not answering the question.

“Huh?” Seokmin looked at his attire, a simple white long sleeved turtle-neck covered by an oversized green cardigan with red linings, and light brown trousers paired with a pair of boots with a shade darker, “Of course not, I’m not nutcrackers, I work in the wishes office, don’t you remember?”

Dino scrunched his eyebrows, “Wishes.. office?”

Seokmin opened his mouth to explain, but before he could get anything out, the door opened for the second time.

“Seok, is Chan here?” the person on the door asked.

“Oh, hao!” Seokmin smiled, “Yeah, he’s right here.” 

Dino snapped his head towards the door. 

The older was wearing the same attire as Seokmin, but instead of a cardigan, he was wearing a dark-green vest instead, the collar of his white shirt seen and the tip of his shirt untucked under the fest, the sleeves rolled until his forearm, a round glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.

“Are you feeling alright?” Minghao asked.

Dino mindlessly nodded.

“Good,” the older said, “If you feel strong enough, quickly go back to your team, Seungkwan and Vernon are worried about you.”

Before Dino could ask anything else, the older closed the door without any goodbyes.

“Well then,” Seokmin smiled, “Go back to the sorting hall if you’re feeling better, I have to go back to work.”

Dino mindlessly nodded for the second time, but quickly snapped his head up.

“W-Where is-”

The older was already gone.

He sighed and took another gulp from his cup.

He has no idea where the sorting hall is.

He doesn’t even know what team he’s in! Seungkwan and Vernon? He’s glad to hear those names but what if they turn out to be nutcrackers or icicles?! He doesn’t even know what kind of world he’s in!

He was walking mindlessly around the hallways of the building (the lights are made of sugar!? the carpets are cotton candy!?) when he suddenly bumped into someone when he turned the corner.

“Ah- I’m sorry I wasn’t-”

“Channie?”

He snapped his head up and saw another familiar face.

“Jun hyung!” he exclaimed.

The older was wearing a different attire as Seokmin and Minghao, he was wearing a simple black sweater paired with a light brown fur coat, and black jeans paired with black heeled-fashion shoes.

“I heard you were trying to be an icicle!” the older said the sentence Dino had been hearing the whole day.

“Ah- y-yes,” Dino tried to give his best smile, “The news travels fast, right..?”

The older chuckled and put an arm around him, “Now, now, there’s nothing wrong with youngsters trying a new trend, but maybe try to not do it on Christmas Eve, I heard the sorting team is in chaos right now.”

“T-The sorting team?” Dino managed to get out.

Jun nodded, “Your team! You were going to the sorting hall, right?” 

“Y-Yes!” Dino exclaimed, “Are you going there too, hyung?”

“Not really,” the older shrugged, and Dino felt his heart lurch.

“Oh..”

“But I think I’ll go help out a bit,” the older grinned, “You’d like that, would you?”

Dino’s eyes lit up and he let out a breath of relief, “Of course! Let’s go together!”

When they got to the sorting hall, Dino couldn’t stop himself from gaping.

The hall was huge, very huge, consisting of only one room with doors on both sides. The building itself was separated from the main building- the building he woke up in- and they had to walk outside for a bit to reach there.

The huge hall was made of wood, its roof very high and the doors looming like gates.

Inside, mountains and mountains of things could be seen everywhere. Papers, pillows, mechanics, books, whatever you ask for. At one side, it was unwrapped and a lot of elfs (small ones with pointy ears- like in the movies! It’s real! And some of them are _flying!_ ) were scribing something on the paper in their own hands, and on the other side, a bunch of them are already wrapped, and more elfs are scribing on their own papers, dividing it according to who knows what.

“Chan!” a voice called, and two figures ran towards him.

“Oh, it’s Seungkwan and Vernon!” Jun, who was beside him, said.

When the two arrived, Jun grinned and tapped his shoulder.

“Work well, I’m going to help those poor elfs over there.” he said, walking away.

When the other two said their thanks, the older suddenly disappeared into thin air- wait, he didn’t disappear, he-

Did he just transform into a brown, the same shade of his fur- forest cat?

Dino couldn’t say anything- he was still amazed by- well, everything.

“Chan? Are you okay?” Vernon said, waving a hand in front of him, “Can you see my hand?”

“Huh?” Dino startled awake from his thoughts, “Y-Yes, of course.”

Now that he looked at them properly, they were both wearing a grey tux and trousers, paired with a red trench coat and boots, both holding a clipboard on one hand, a pen clipped on it.

“What were you doing?!” Seungkwan put his hands on his hips, “I heard you got buried under snow! Are you really trying to be an icicle?”

Dino sighed, “No, of course I’m not! Why the hell would I want to be an icicle!”

Vernon gasped and quickly shushed him, “Don’t say that too loud, the icicles might hear!”

“Huh?” Dino looked at them with a puzzled face- but then gave up and shook his head.

“So, what were you doing?” Seungkwan asked.

Dino gulped, “I- uh- I was-”

Before he could make something up, Vernon suddenly widened his eyes and grabbed both of them by the shoulders.

“GET DOWN!” he yelled. 

As soon as Vernon pulled them both down, the door opened with a loud bang, and a rush of wind passed right on top of them. It went as soon as it came, before they knew it, the ‘wind’ had already flown outside through the door on the other side.

Hair rumpled and face pale, Dino straightened his back and looked around, some of the mountains had collapsed, and papers were flying everywhere.

Seungkwan gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, his veins bulging in anger.

“KWON SOONYOUNG!!” he yelled, “IF YOU WANT TO SCARE THE REINDEERS, DO IT IN YOUR OWN HALL!”

A cackle was heard, and suddenly, something ran in from the door the reindeers just flew from.

As if the day couldn’t get weirder, a white- black striped tiger is now running around them, and when it jumps, it suddenly emits a bright light, and transforms himself to be the one and only Kwon Soonyoung.

He was wearing almost the same attire as Jun, the only difference is his fur coat- where Jun’s was light brown, his was more of a white- with stripes of black.

“Sorry Kwannie!” the latter said sheepishly, “I really didn’t mean them to fly this way!”

Seungkwan sighed in frustration, “Seriously! All you animaguses do nothing but run around and scare reindeers!”

“EXCUSE ME?!” a yell was heard from behind one of the unpacked mountains, “I don’t see myself scaring any reindeers?”

Seungkwan cleared his throat, “All you animaguses except Jun do nothing but run around and scare reindeers!”

“That’s more like it.” Jun smirked and his eyes darted back to the clipboard in his hand.

Soonyoung scrunched his eyebrows, “But there’s only two animaguses here..?”

Vernon lifted an eyebrow, “Exactly.”

Suddenly, the door opened for the second time, and Seokmin walked in with a huge smile on his face, straight towards them.

“Chan, the deputy is looking for you!” he said as he arrived, “He’s waiting for you in his room!”

Dino pressed his lips together, “D-Deputy??”

“Yes..?” the latter replied, “Lee Jihoon? Deputy Chief? The left door on the third floor?”

Dino pretended to gasp, “Ah, yes, of course! Jihoon’s room- I-I’ll be going there.”

As he walked away, the older brothers looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“He really did hit his head, didn’t he?” was the last thing Seungkwan said before the door closed behind him.

The last door on the third floor was fortunately easy to find.

Different from the first and second floor that’s buzzing with people- or magical creatures of sorts, the third floor is much, much calmer.

It’s like one of those waiting room you can see in a five star hotel with comfortable sofas all over the corner, only that the walls are made out of wood, and there’s a large fireplace on the side, in front of it, another cotton candy carpet with shelves filled with all kinds of books sandwiching it.

There are in total three doors at the end of the room, one on the left, one on the right, and the biggest one on the middle.

Remembering what Seokmin said, he went directly to the door on the left, giving it three knocks.

“Come in.” a familiar voice came from inside.

He opened the door and was greeted by an office-like room, bookshelves filled with files and books on one side, sketches and drawings of dolls, trains, toys, well- everything hung on the other.

“Chan?” the owner of the room called, snapping him away from his thoughts.

His gaze fell on the person leaning on the table in the end of the room, wearing a simple maroon colored turtleneck sweater and black jeans, round glasses perched on his nose.

Since when did Jihoon wear glasses?

“Y-Yes sir?” He tried to straighten his pose.

The older lifted an eyebrow, “Why aren’t you wearing your uniform?”

Dino flinched and immediately took a quick look of himself- still wearing the clothes he wore in the practice room, a purple hoodie, sweat pants, slippers, his mask, beanie, wallet, even his phone already buried somewhere in the snow.

“Uh- I left it at home, sir.” he tried to say.

Jihoon didn’t look convinced, but he decided to let it pass.

“Just- don’t forget again next time- and wear something warmer.”

Dino nodded.

“How is the sorting going? It would be done before the evening, right?”

“Uh- it’s going well, sir-” Dino cleared his throat, “I-I think we can do that.”

The older scrunched his eyebrows, “How many mountains do we have this year? It’s lessened drastically, right?”

“Y-Yes sir- not much, sir.” 

“Did you finish sorting the European wishes? I heard they have the most wishes this year.”

“...No? I-I’m still doing it..?”

“How are the new elves? You recruited them, are they good enough?”

“Yes..? They’re- they’re flying really fast..”

“Did you meet with Mingyu for the final checking?”

“...yes?”

“Have you checked the wrappings?”

“...y-yes?”

“Do reindeers like milk?”

“If they’re not lactose intolerant..?”

“Is the sky blue?”

“...is it?”

Jihoon sighed and took off his glasses.

“You’re not our Chan, are you?” he asked, looking at Dino straight in the eye.

Dino gulped and nodded.

The older put his glasses on the table and groaned.

“Why must this happen on Christmas Eve..”

Dino scrunched his eyebrows, “Did this happen before?”

“Yes,” Jihoon replied, crossing his hands, “The Christmas cheers lessened from day to day and the magic gets weaker, so it becomes a little wonky sometimes, and when it does, a human usually gets dragged here.”

“But you’re the first case from another world,” he continued, “We never got that before.”

“Another world?” Dino looked at him with a puzzled face, “How did you know I’m from another world?”

Jihoon shrugged, “You’re the exact same Chan as ours, but you’re not our Chan. There’s no way there’s two identical Chans in this world.”

“Really?” Dino scrunched his face, “Then.. where is.. this?”

“Haven’t you realized?” the older lifted an eyebrow, “North Pole, Santa’s factory.”

“T-Then-” Dino stuttered, “You guys are- e-elves?”

Jihoon hummed, “You can say that, but we’re actually human elves, different from the pure elves you’ve probably seen in the sorting hall.”

Dino nodded, “I see…”

“Now can you explain to me who you- really are?” the older asked reluctantly.

“O-Of course.”

Dino explained who he is, and what he does back in his world, and how he got here in the first place. The older just listened to him with a tired face, nodding once or twice as a sign he’s listening.

“So you’re saying, in your world, we’re a- a boy group?”

Dino nodded, “K-pop idols, Seventeen.”

“..seventeen?”

“Yes? Triple million sellers?”

Jihoon lifted his eyebrows, “We do get a lot of wishes for K-pop albums, but we’ve never heard of Seventeen before.”

Dino scrunched his eyebrows and pouted, “..that’s sad.”

The older sighed and dragged a hand on his face, “Alright, I’ll try to talk about this to the chief, we’ll see what we can do to bring you back. But for now, you should help your team in sorting, we’re a bit busy on Christmas Eve.”

“I can see that…” Dino replied.

Jihoon nodded, “Here’s what you need to know- before christmas, we collect wishes from around the world- and that’s Seokmin and Minghao’s team’s job, the wishes office. Then, the wishes would go to the production team- Mingyu and Wonwoo’s team. After the gifts are produced, we finally sort it according to regions and contents- that’s your team’s job. After that, it would be delivered around the world on Christmas Eve, led by the nutcrackers and the animagus.”

Dino nodded, pretending to understand.

The older raised an eyebrow, “Clear enough?”

“Y-Yes sir!” Dino replied, swallowing the questions he wanted to ask.

Jihoon sighed, “Why do you call me sir? Do you call the ‘me’ in your world with ‘sir’?”

“N-No sir.”

“Then don’t call me that.”

“Yes, s- hyung.”

“Good.” Jihoon nodded, “Now go help your team.”

When he got back to the sorting hall, a commotion was heard from the middle of the hall.

“Okay look here,” Seungkwan lifted his clipboard, showing a list clipped on it, “Daphne clearly asked for a Jaehyun photocard, but you dumbasses made a Mark photocard!”

In front of him stood two taller persons, which Chan can easily recognize as Mingyu and Wonwoo.

They were wearing a simple light blue shirt, the top unbutton with a white turtleneck sweater inside, paired with black trousers and boots.

“Well, you’ve read our list,” Mingyu replied, his face annoyed, “It’s clearly written here that sweet Daphne wants a Mark photocard!”

“How can the lists be different?” Vernon asked, examining the two, “Is it the same Daphne?”

“It is, we’ve checked.” Wonwoo answered.

Seungkwan sighed exasperatedly, “Then? Whose fault is it? It’s clearly not ours.”

“It’s clearly not ours either.” Mingyu said with a defensive tone.

At this moment, Dino stood beside Vernon, unmoving.

“What do you think, Chan?” the latter asked, “It’s weird, isn’t it?”

Dino scrunched his eyebrows, “...maybe the wishes office made one of them the wrong list?”

Seungkwan and Mingyu’s head snapped towards him, then snapped back to look at each other.

“The wishes office!”

“I don’t make mistakes.”

Mingyu sighed, “But hao, please read it again, how can we have two different lists of wishes from the same person?”

Dino looked around the wishes office, it was surprisingly like a normal office- minus the wooden walls, but there’s desks and actual- working computers on it, with keyboards and mouses!! Oh how he’s glad to see a modern day technology.

It’s much more peaceful than the sorting halls, as they have finished their job already.

Suddenly, his gaze fell on a stack of papers in the corner of the room. Mindlessly, he walked closer and took a look at it.

The first paper was a letter, which looked like it was written by a little kid, four stickmans drawn in the corner- one bigger than the others which looks like their mother.

_I wish for a warm Christmas!_

Smiling at the letter, Chan took another one. This time, the handwriting was neat and beautiful, but a bit shaky and rusty.

_I wish to see my grandchildrens._

He took another one, the handwriting seemed messy but readable- but it looks like it was written on a whim, like the writer didn’t put any thoughts while writing it.

_I wish to not feel lonely._

“Chan? What are you doing?” a voice suddenly said.

Dino snapped his head to the side and found that Seokmin was already beside him.

“What are these?” he asked.

“Discarded letters.” the older answered.

Dino scrunched his eyebrows, “Discarded? Why?”

Seokmin gave a sad smile, “Unfortunately there aren’t many christmas cheers these days, and so we tend to avoid big miracles..”

“..what?”

The older cleared his throat, “Speaking about that- I should find an elf to bring these to the deputy.”

Dino widened his eyes and quickly held the older’s arm before he could call anybody.

“I-I’ll do it!”

“Oh?” Seokmin raised his eyebrows, “Alright then, you sure?”

Dino nodded, “I can’t really help with the photocard situation, this is a least what I can do!”

Seokmin smiled brightly and patted his back, “Okay then! Thank you Chan!”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“Throw it away.”

Dino looked at him with a bewildered expression, “Why?”

Jihoon, who was sitting behind his desk sighed, “We’re not miracle workers Chan, we’re just a bunch of elves with magic.”

“But you used to do these, right?” Dino said, “Miracles?”

“Yes,” the older answered, “used to.”

“Why?”

“Because, Lee Chan,” Jihoon folded his arms on top of the table, his face clearly annoyed, “We’re weak, we can’t make big miracles anymore, no one believes in us anymore.”

“We can produce things for those who asked, yes.” he continued, “But those who asked for miracles- like bringing their parents back or to cure sickness, they don’t even believe in us anymore. They wrote it _knowing_ that it’s impossible, they’re just holding on to false hopes.”

Dino gritted his teeth, “It’s because they _know_ it’s impossible, but wrote a wish anyway, that we shouldn’t leave them!”

“We may can’t make miracles or make their wishes come true- but we can at least tell them that there’s something to be happy for this christmas, that there’s something to hold on to, that there’s something to look forward to, that there’s a reason to go on.”

“We can at least show them that something good will happen, and that it’s okay to hope- however impossible it looks.”

“Maybe we can’t do miracles or magic, but we can at least bring a smile to their faces, peace to their minds, and warmness to their hearts.”

“Isn’t that what christmas is all about?”

The older stayed silent, massaging his temples.

“Fine, I’ll try to talk to the chief.” he finally said, and Dino smiled brightly.

“Don’t hope too much,” Jihoon quickly added, “The chief might agree, but the director might not.”

Dino nodded excitedly, “I won’t!”

Jihoon raised an eyebrow and shook his head, “Just- leave for now.”

“Thank you, hyung!” Dino said before turning around and walked outside.

He closed the door with a smile and walked towards the table on the other side of the room. He looked inside a bowl on top of it and took a piece of chocolate, the gold wrapper shining brightly.

“Someone seems happy.”

Dino yelped and dropped the chocolate to the ground.

The figure who just came chuckled, “Did I startle you?”

Holding his poor beating heart, Dino looked at the latter with an exasperated expression.

“Seungcheol hyung?”

The older smiled and bent down to pick up the chocolate. Thankfully, Dino didn’t open the wrappers yet- which saved it from whatever bacteria are in the cotton candy carpet.

Dino realized that unlike the others, the older was just wearing a black hoodie, black sweatpants, and a pair of sneakers.

He wonders what the latter is supposed to be, here.

“I heard your conversation with the deputy in his office,” the older said, giving him the chocolate back, “Say, do you love christmas?”

Dino scrunched his eyebrows, taking the chocolate and putting it in his hoodie’s pocket.

“Honestly.. I didn’t really.. feel like celebrating christmas this year, with how shitty this year was.”

“But after I came h- I mean as I sort the gifts with my team and read the wishes in the discarded file- I don’t know, I just feel like even if we feel sad the whole year, at least at christmas, we can feel a little less sad.”

The older smiled, his dimples showing, “Then, do you know what’s the most important thing in Christmas?”

Dino scrunched his eyebrows, and after thinking for a while, he shook his head sheepishly.

Seungcheol chuckled and ruffled his hair, “Alright then, go back to your job.”

Dino lifted his eyebrows in question, “You’re not going to tell me?”

“Of course not,” the older replied, “You have to know it for yourself.”

“Now go, the gifts won’t sort themselves.”

“And that’s the last sleigh!”

Jeonghan stretched his hands and let out a groan, echoing in the huge sorting hall that’s now empty.

“I’m really getting old, these reindeers are getting harder and harder to control.”

Joshua snorted, “That’s why you don’t skip sport day, dumbass.”

Jeonghan gasped, “Shua! That’s a bad word! No bad word in the magical palace of North Pole!”

Seungkwan lifted an eyebrow, “By a magical palace you mean an old wooden three floored shack with a huge dusty hall and reindeer stalls?”

“Shush, Seungkwan.” Jeonghan held his palm up towards the younger, “Let me manifest the Christmas energy.”

Mingyu snorted, “I should manifest my bed then, a good night sleep without machines, magic dusts, grumpy elves, and unrealistic things to produce.”

“So, we’re done for the year, right?” Soonyoung, who was already sitting on an empty crate said.

“I think so, but I haven’t seen the deputy and the chief yet,” Jun replied, “They usually come for the last check but they didn’t this year.”

Dino sighed and put his clipboard on the crate beside Soonyoung.

“Something wrong?” the older asked.

Dino gave his best smile and shook his head, “Nothing.”

“You’re coming to team dinner, right?” 

“Huh? There’s a te-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the door suddenly opened, showing two figures.

“Get out of the way! Another sleigh is coming.” one of them said, walking straight to the side.

Just as they cleared out from the center, a sleigh much bigger than others flew in, with nine reindeers pulling them, the one in the front with a shining red nose.

Dino scrunched his eyebrows, _is that Rudolph?! Am I seeing a real life Rudolph?!_

“Hoi hoi, Cheol, you’re late!” Jeonghan said going straight towards the latter, “And why are you wearing all black?! Are you a chief or a black cloaked envoy?”

“C-Chief!?” Dino exclaimed, “Seungcheol hyung is the chief?!”

Minghao looked at him as if he grew a second head, “Are you still feeling unwell?”

“Do you need more Gluhwein, Chan?” Seokmin asked, “I can steal more from shua hyung’s stash if you want.”

“I am going to pretend I did not hear that.” Joshua said, walking towards the chief.

Dino looked around and quickly walked towards Jihoon.

“S-So Seungcheol hyung is the santa?!” he whispered.

The older glared at him, “Does he look like an old man with white beard to you?”

Dino looked at Seungcheol, then back at Jihoon, “No..?”

“Then he’s not!” the older hissed, and Dino flinched away.

Seokmin, who was beside him and heard their conversation chuckled, “Santa is the director.” he explained.

Before Dino could ask more, Jihoon suddenly stepped in front of them and conjured a stack of papers out of nowhere.

He walked towards Vernon and dropped the stack to the younger, “Hold onto this, sort the regions so we could know what route we should take.”

Vernon scrunched his eyebrows and looked at the papers, “These are..”

Dino craned his neck to also look at it and he immediately recognized the writings on the first paper.

“The discarded wishes?” he asked with a hopeful smile.

Jihoon gave an amused scoff and climbed the sleigh, the chief already sitting at the front.

“So?” Seungcheol grinned, “Are we going to wait until Christmas Eve ends?”

“Did you get permission from the director?” Seokmin asked excitedly.

“Of course not,” the older answered, “But I stalled enough time for Jihoon to sneak his carriage out, and we should really get going before he noticed.”

The others quickly climbed up the sleigh, and Dino was the last one that was still standing on the ground.

As he was figuring out on how to climb the sleigh properly, a hand suddenly stretched towards him.

He looked up and saw the chief smiling towards him.

“Let’s go, we have some miracles to make.”

“The first letter is from little Georgia Muller, 5 years old, the youngest in the Muller family with two older brothers. They all live with their mother in that little hut over there.”

Vernon pointed at a hut right in front of where they parked their sleigh at, in the outskirts of a little city in the West of Europe.

“She wishes for a warm christmas.”

Seungkwan folded his arms and leaned on the chair, “Any ideas?”

Three children sat around a little wooden table inside their little hut, one a girl, the other two boys. Their mother walked out from the kitchen and put a steaming bowl on the table.

“Mommy! What are we eating?? It’s Christmas!!” the older boy, about 9 years of age asked.

The mother gave her best smile, “I heated the porridge from yesterday, you like it, right?”

“What?” the younger boy, about 7 years of age pouted, “So, we’ll eat chicken? Not ham?”

“Yeah!” the older boy crossed his arms, “Daddy used to give us ham every christmas!”

The little girl, Georgie Muller, lifted the lid and looked at the porridge with a disappointed expression.

Suddenly, a knock was heard from the door, and the mother told her kids to stay seated.

After a while, the mother came back inside with a big, steaming bowl on her hands and a huge smile on her face.

“A nice young man gave us a cream soup!” she said, putting it on top of the table.

“Does it have ham? Does it have ham?” the kids climbed their chairs and craned their neck to see the contents of the bowl.

“Should we take a look?” their mother asked, opening the lid.

“It’s ham!! It’s ham!!” the older boy said, jumping down from his chair.

“HAM!!!” the younger one followed his brother and ran around the table.

Georgia Muller smiled giddily in her seat, looking at her brothers with the biggest smile on her face.

And so, just like that, laughter filled the small hut.

“Are you sure the soup is edible?”

Mingyu scoffed, “Of course, I made it myself, and I’m the best cook in the North Pole, remember?”

Wonwoo raised an eyebrow, “You made it with your magic, so technically, you didn’t cook it.”

“Technically,” the younger replied, “I made it with my magic, so it’s my cooking.”

“Technically,” Seungkwan joined them, “We should go to our next destination.”

“Elizabeth Brooks, 83 years old,” Vernon said, reading his list, “Her husband passed a few years ago and her wish is to see her grandchildren.”

“The problem is,” Seungkwan said, “Her grandchildren live on the other side of the continent.”

“Should we go to Mrs. Brooks then?” Joshua asked, holding the reins.

Jihoon shook his head, “We’re going to young Mr. Brooks.”

“What are you planning?” Soonyoung asked the deputy when they arrived in front of the young Brooks’s family house, watching them from the window. Inside, a big christmas tree with bright lights stood in the corner of the room, a lady and a younger girl were cooking something in the kitchen, a middle aged man walking around the house seemed to be searching for something, while two younger boys were running around the house.

Jihoon watched the whole scene and waited, after a while, he gave a little wave with his hand, and suddenly, a family picture that stood on top of a low cabinet fell to the ground, startling the whole family.

Young Mr. Brooks crouched down to take the framed picture, and when he stood up, he took quite a while to look at it before finally putting it back.

“Hey honey?” he called, earring a hum from his wife, “Should we Facetime mother?”

“So suddenly?” his wife answered, “Is she not asleep yet?”

“I-I don’t know,” Mr. Brooks replied, “But I think she’ll be happy to see the kids.”

The others looked at the deputy with knowing glances and smirks.

“What?” Jihoon asked, annoyed.

“You still got it in you, huh?” Jun grinned, nudging him.

“Now you see why he’s the deputy, Chan?” Soonyoung craned his neck from the back seat, “He may feel like the grinch sometimes but he really knows how to tug people’s heartstrings.”

The deputy rolled his eyes, “Whatever, where should we go next?”

Vernon picked up the third letter, “Raja, 6 years old, he had been spending his life in the hospital grounds because of his illness.”

“He wishes to not be scared anymore.”

A little kid dashes through the bushes, trying his best to crouch as low as he can as he runs around the hospital’s garden.

“Raja?” multiple voices call, “Raja where are you?”

The boy kept running and running, until he arrived in the middle of the garden. There stood a round fountain, and around it stood tall, sturdy shrubs like a maze that doesn’t have any turns.

The boy crouched down and pants, wiping his sweat off his forehead and taking big gulps of air.

“Hi there,” a voice said, making him flinch, snapping his head towards the sound.

A young man appeared from behind the fountain, smiling softly.

“Are you Raja?” the latter asked, not walking closer.

The boy didn’t do anything, looking at him with a weary face.

“It’s alright,” the latter said with a soft voice, “I won’t take you anywhere.”

“You’re not going to take me back?” the boy asked.

The latter shook his head, “I’m Seokmin, are you Raja?”

The boy gulped and nodded.

“Say, Raja, the nurses are looking for you,” Seokmin said, “Why don’t you want to go back with them?”

Raja scrunched his face and shook his head, “I don’t want to! Hospital is sad! And they give me yucky drinks and bring me to a scary room, and then I’d be scared! I don’t want to be scared!”

“Then, Raja, do you know tigers?” Seokmin asked.

The boy’s eyes lit up and he nodded enthusiastically, “Big kitties! I love big kitties! They’re brave and cool! They never get scared!”

“That’s not true,” Seokmin replied, “Big kitties get scared too!”

The boy scrunched his eyebrows, “Really?”

Seokmin nodded, “Of course, but even though they’re scared, they never back away from what makes them scared, and that makes them even braver!”

The boy gaped his mouth, “Really?”

Seokmin smiled, “Now, I have a friend I would like you to meet, do you want to meet him?”

The boy smiled and jumped giddily, “Is it a big kitty?”

“I don’t know,” the older replied, “How about you close your eyes first?”

Raja closed his tiny eyes and waited.

“Now, open your eyes.” he heard the older say.

When he opened his eyes, he gasped at the sight in front of him.

“BIG KITTY!” he screamed and threw himself towards the white- black striped tiger in front of him.

The tiger snuggled his face and the boy laughed in glee.

“Is this your friend?” he asked Seokmin who was crouching behind him.

The older nodded, “Yes, I brought him here for you.”

The boy gasped, “What’s his name?”

Seokmin hummed, “I don’t really know, how about you give him a name?”

The boy caressed the tiger’s face and giggled, “How about hoshi?”

“That’s a wonderful name, Raja!” Seokmin said, “Hoshi loves it too!”

“Really?” the boy hugged the tiger’s neck, “I love Hoshi too!”

The tiger gave a small purr and snuggled back.

“Will Hoshi make me brave when I’m scared?” the boy asked.

“Of course,” Seokmin said, “You may can’t see him all the time, but he’ll always be with you!”

The boy frowned, “Hoshi will go?”

The older gave him a sad smile, “Hoshi needs to go back to his family, and you too, Raja, your father and the nurses are very worried about you.”

The boy gasped, “Papa! I left papa alone in my room!”

Seokmin chuckled, “Do you want to go back, now?”

The boy nodded, but his face was still frowning.

“The hospital is.. sad... and scary..”

“Really?” Seokmin replied, “It doesn’t look that way to me.”

“Huh?” The boy turned around facing the hospital.

No one knew what happened, and no one knew how it became like that, but the hospital building that was once sad and eerie, was suddenly covered by colorful fairy lights, bright colored ornaments, bulbs, and stars.

It became a place of joy.

When Raja turned around after gaping at the lights, both the young man and the tiger were nowhere to be seen.

Only a small, white tiger plushie laid on the ground, looking at the boy with huge, bright eyes.

“I thought your magic powers are supposed to be weak?” Dino asked.

“That doesn’t really take a lot of magic,” Seokmin said, “Besides, Raja isn’t the only one who’ll feel joy at this place today.”

Jeonghan grinned and ruffled the younger’s hair, “You always have a soft spot for kids.”

“Alright then,” Seungkwan said, pulling the next letter, “next up is Tooru, 27 years old, wishes to take a break on christmas.”

A young adult sat in front of his laptop, his hands typing endlessly and his eyes drooping, the black circles under his eyes showing, and round glasses perched on his nose. Three empty cups that looked like I was filled with coffee stood on his table, on top of papers and files that were already unused.

Looking at the clock on the corner of his laptop, he curses under his breath and typed even faster.

Suddenly, he heard a bark, and something soft passed his feet.

“Later Kumi, I can’t play now.”

A golden retriever sneaked out from the bottom of his desk and whined.

The young adult, Tooru didn’t pay any mind to his dog, only thinking about the deadline that his chief gave on Christmas Eve.

He was typing his nth page of paper works when his laptop suddenly balck out.

“W-What?” he widened his eyes, “Kumi? Did you pull the cord again?”

He turned around and saw that his dog was still sitting patiently behind him.

He tried turning the laptop back on, but it just won’t work.

“Shit.” he slammed his hands on the table, then let out a groan while dragging his hands on his face.

Another bark.

“Kumi I told you, I have no time to-” he stopped, then sighed, “It’s almost in the middle of the night, why do you want to go to the park?”

Kumi barked.

Tooru gave a final look on his laptop and pressed the palm of his hands to his eyes.

“Fine, let’s go to the park.”

When they arrived at the park behind their apartment, Tooru quickly took a seat on a frozen bench, white puffs of smoke coming out of his mouth every time he breathed.

Kumi jumped to the space beside him and barked, snuggling her face to her owner’s neck.

Tooru chuckled, “What’s with you today? It’s like you’re excited because of Christmas..”

Kumi barked.

“Oh, Kumi it’s-” Tooru looked up to the sky and gulped, “It’s snowing.”

He snorted and smiled, “It’s snowing! How long has it been since we played in the snow?”

Kumi barked.

Tooru laughed, “I know girl, too long, I’m so sorry.”

When his dog snuggled closer, Tooru circled his arms around his pet and buried his face on the warmness of her fur.

“It’s been too long.” his voice cracked.

“Please tell me you saved his progress.” Minghao massaged his temples.

“I’m not a psychopath Minghao, of course I do,” Joshua replied, “I also made the chief postpone the deadline, so it’s a double win for him.”

“Where should we go next?” Soonyoung asked, leaning towards Vernon, “It’s been a while since I’m this excited for Christmas!”

“Kim Se Yoon, 30 years old,” Vernon replied, “She wishes to meet her special someone soon.”

A young lady sat alone in a small, cozy cafe in the corner of the street, a book in her hand and her phone on the table.

When she was just finishing the page she was reading, the waiter came and gave her her order, a cup of hot chocolate.

She smiled and said her thank you, then went back to reading.

When she was about to lift her cup, she accidentally lifted it a little tilted, making the chocolate spill on the table.

Sighing, she stood up to take a tissue from the counter, her book still on her hands.

But as she got out of her chair, she suddenly bumped into a man about her age who was about to leave, making her drop her book, and the latter also dropped his things.

“Ah, I’m so sorry!” the latter said, quickly picking up his things, “I didn’t watch where I was going.”

She smiled and nodded, taking her own book without looking at it, “It’s fine, I didn’t watch where I was going too.”

And so, the man bowed for one last time before exiting the cafe.

“That’s it?” Dino looked at the cafe with a puzzled face, “Where’s the special someone?”

“Chan, my boy,” Jeonghan shook his head, “You still have so much to learn.”

“Huh?’ Dino exclaimed, not understanding what the older was saying.

Jeonghan gave a satisfied sigh, “Look at the book.”

Dino scrunched his eyes and saw the book that the woman was carrying.

“Oh? That’s a different book!”

They continued the whole night, giving shelters and food to the homeless, reuniting families, or even decorating the city hall. As they flew from continent to continents, the night got later and later, until they finally arrived at their final destination.

The sleigh parked on top of a big house, it looks like a house that only people with more money can afford. But it was dark, not a single decoration can be seen.

“Our final wish is from Carat.” Vernon said.

Dino widened his eyes, ‘Carat?”

“That’s a funny name,” Soonyoung said, “What do they wish for?”

Vernon read the letter slowly, “Their wish is to not feel lonely anymore.”

“Alright,” Seungcheol stood up from his seat and jumped off the sleigh, “Chan, Jun, come with me.”

When they arrived at the room, the first thing they saw was someone at the bed, covering themselves with a blanket. They were trembling, and muffled sobs could be heard from under the blanket.

In the corner of the room, a white cat lied on its belly, purring softly.

“Jun,” Seungcheol said, and the younger quickly nodded, then transformed himself into his animal form.

“Jun hyung can talk cat language?” Dino asked. They won’t be seen by humans, the older had told him that, so he didn’t whisper.

Seungcheol nodded, “Of course he can, they have the same blood line.”

Suddenly, the black cat, who woke up because of the presence of another cat, walked towards the bundle of blanket and jumped on the bed. It made its way under the blanket and started purring. And soon, the sobs died down.

Seungcheol waved his hand and suddenly a piece of paper appeared out of nowhere, and he put it under a phone that was on top of the night stand right beside the bed.

With another wave of his hand, the phone suddenly lit up and let out a sound of notification.

The person under the blanket finally took their blanket off and grabbed their phone, only realizing that there’s a piece of paper under it.

“Huh?” they exclaimed weakly, trying to read the words on the paper.

At the same time, Dino tried to crane his neck to also read the words on the paper.

There was only one sentence, written beautifully.

_It’s okay, your world is fine._

Suddenly, another notification popped up, the person quickly looked at their phone.

For some reason, they finally let out a genuine smile, and clicked on the notification on the phone.

“Carats!! Hello!!” a voice said from the screen.

Dino widened his eyes, “Isn’t that-” 

He walked closer to the screen and saw himself- with the 12 other members on what it seems like a Vlive.

He scrunched his eyebrows, “I thought we didn’t exist here?”

But when he turned around to ask, no one was there.

“Huh?”

The last thing he remembered before blacking out, is a soft ringing of a bell.

“-no..? Dino..? Dino!!”

Dino gasped and woke up.

“Dino! Thank God!” he heard someone say- it sounds familiar, but his head hurts so much that he couldn’t make out anything.

“Cheollie hyung! He’s awake!”

Sounds of hurried steps.

“Dino? Dino? Are you alright? How are you feeling?”

He squinted his eyes and shook his head, “Where- where am I?”

“You’re in your room, somebody saw you fell on a sidewalk and brought you to a hospital, and we brought you back.”

Oh, the headache is getting lesser and lesser, he can finally make out some faces and things around him.

“Hoshi hyung..? Seungcheol hyung..?”

Hoshi let out a relieved sigh, “We were all worried about you, does your head hurt?”

“N-No,” he said, “I- I was-”

Was it all a dream? Was it all his imagination?

But it felt so real.

He can even still taste the Glühwein in his throat.

“Did I- did I pass out?” he managed to ask.

Seungcheol nodded, “But the hospital said you’re fine, so we took you home.”

“Oh, and Dino,” Hoshi said, “We took off your hoodie and put away your phone and wallet, it’s in your table, and we also found this.”

The older gave him something round and gold, and he took it.

Dino widened his eyes.

...a chocolate?

  
  
  


_Merry Christmas_

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas!! I hope you enjoyed this little fic I managed to write in the span of two days, and I hope that it made you at least let out a little smile. This year might be shitty and we may don't really feel like Christmas right now, but that doesn't mean we can't at least put a little smile on our faces.  
> Let's be happy for a while, with only a reason that it's Christmas.  
> It's alright, your world is fine.  
> Let's love each other and bring joy to those around us.  
> Sending of hugs and kisses and Christmas vibes!!  
> Merry Christmas!!  
> xoxo  
> nana


End file.
